U.S. Workers Join in Support of Saffron Revolution and video

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/10/02/us-workers-join-in-support-of-saffron-revolution/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyiajUKNb9c

Tim Ryan at the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center was among hundreds of Washington, D.C.-area activists taking part in Friday’s rally in support of Burma’s pro-democracy movement.

Chanting “Burma, Burma, must be free! Freedom, justice, democracy!” hundreds of union members, students and our allies gathered Friday afternoon at 23rd and S streets in Washington, D.C., at the Burmese Embassy—as we have many times over the past several years in support of the Burmese public.

Spurred on by the dramatic protests of tens of thousands of Buddhist monks and ordinary citizens and workers challenging the military dictatorship in the streets of Burmese cities like Rangoon and Mandalay, members of organizations from across the area joined in condemning the Burmese generals’ violence against their own people. Some reports say thousands of people have been killed by the military following days of protest, and 200 monks murdered by the military who crushed their skulls against a brick wall, figures that are imposible to verify because the nation is a closed police state. An autopsy today found a Japanese journalist covering the protests was shot point blank.

Friday’s protest was organized by the U.S. Campaign for Burma and supported by the AFL-CIO, the Solidarity Center and AFT. Contingents of student activists from American University and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., also joined in, as did a group from the University of Maryland.

Addressing the crowd, AFL-CIO International Affairs Director Barbara Shailor said:

The AFL-CIO today—and the entire global labor movement—stands with our brave union brothers and sisters inside the cauldron of Burma. We call upon the Burmese government to release all political prisoners, including six labor rights activists who were sentenced for up to 28 years in prison for exercising their rights as workers in Labor Day activities on May First. We call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

FULL story and video at link.